Earlier today, Amusement Today announced the 2021 Golden Ticket award winners. Started in 1998, the Golden Ticket Awards were established by Amusement Today to shine a spotlight on the amusement park industry by recognizing the “Best of the Best.” Today, they are among the most sought-after awards among theme parks, amusement parks, family entertainment centers and water parks.
After skipping the 2020 award season due to COVID-19, the Golden Ticket awards are back this year and encompass the 2020 and 2021 seasons. That means that anything that opened after September 2019 (the last time the awards were presented) would qualify. To that end, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance swept a variety of categories.
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is no stranger to industry awards, and the attraction has collected an astounding three Golden Ticket awards this year – Best New Family Attraction, Best New Attraction Installation, and Best Dark Ride.
Best New Family Attraction
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance bested Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway to take the top spot in the Best New Family Attraction category.
Due to the overwhelming demand for Rise of the Resistance, Disney introduced a virtual queue system to handle the thousands and thousands of guests who experience the attraction every day.
Best Dark Ride
Rise of the Resistance is, quite simply, the crowning achievement of decades of dark rides at Walt Disney Imagineering. From the first Fantasyland rides at Disneyland, dark rides have been a Disney Parks staple and there might not be anything better than Rise of the Resistance. Rise dethrones Pirates of the Caribbean: Battle for Sunken Treasure as Disney continues to hold on to the top spot and hold off Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts.
We imagine that this will be the first year of many for Rise of the Resistance as Disney continues to raise the bar for the attractions industry.
Best New Attraction Installation
Again, Rise of the Resistance’s debut month of late 2019 qualifies it for the 2020/2021 award season. While Rise of the Resistance held off a Universal Orlando attraction in the Best Dark Ride category, it also held off Universal’s VelociCoaster as the Best New Attraction Installation.
A multi-year project, Rise of the Resistance combines a trackless ride vehicle, immersive carousel effects, new Audio-Animatronics, and even a small drop into a single experience.
As always, keep checking back with us here at BlogMickey.com as we continue to bring you the latest news, photos, and info from around the Disney Parks!